IBM: IT likes Windows Phone

Jim Szafranski, senior VP of customer platform services at IBM’s Fiberlink unit, said many of its enterprise customers would like to see their employees use Windows Phone for work-related activities because of its tight integration with Microsoft’s back-end systems.

"IT likes Microsoft and likes Windows. They’ve made a lot of investment in things like Active Directory and Exchange and as a result they have a lot of interest in seeing Windows Phone used by employees. I don’t think anyone is going to be all Windows on mobile, but enterprises do want it and I think they have a strong opportunity when it comes to the enterprise side of purchase decisions."

"Since its launch in late 2012, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 has seen nearly steady growth in the enterprise: 12 percent of U.S. companies are planning on buying Windows Phone 8 devices in the first quarter of 2014," said Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile & wireless at 451 Research. "According to our ChangeWave Research, corporate users are more satisfied with Windows Phone 8 than they are with either Android or BlackBerry. We see growing demand and interest in the OS – which will drive a need for mobile management tools to support it."

Nokia has earlier said they are aiming for 20% of the enterprise phone market by 2014, after winning 11.5% in less than 2 years, largely by displacing Blackberry and providing a better value and security proposition than iOS and Android.

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